Acton Awarded State Grant For Climate Change Prep

ACTON, MA – Acton was one of 71 cities and towns across Massachusetts awarded funding Thursday to prepare for climate change, the Baker-Polito administration announced. More than $1 million in grant funding was awarded through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program.

The program provides communities with technical support, climate change data and planning tools to identify hazards and develop strategies to improve resilience. The grant awardees represent 20 percent of the state's municipalities.

"Massachusetts is committed to combating and preparing for the impacts of climate change, and our Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program is designed to ensure our communities can work together on building resilience with the best planning tools, data and resources from the state," Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement. "We are proud that so many of our cities and towns are involved and using their local knowledge and community strengths to partner with the Commonwealth."

Through the MVP Program, municipalities will work through a community-based workshop process to identify climate-related hazards, vulnerabilities and strengths, develop actions and prioritize the next steps. The initiative is funded by the Five-Year Capital Plan and consists of a project coordinator from each town with a core team of town staff and volunteers representing town planning departments, emergency managers, conservation commissioners, economic councils, the business community and key stakeholders.

Technical assistance will be delivered by state-certified MVP Program providers using a standardized toolkit for assessing vulnerability and developing strategies, and newly developed climate projections and data from the Northeast Climate Science Center at UMass-Amherst. Upon successful completion of the program, municipalities will be designated as a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program Community

Acton has been awarded $19,000 to achieve designation status by June 2018.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer this program to so many communities in every corner of the state," Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton said in a statement. "The MVP Program is a critical component of implementing Governor Baker’s Executive Order 569 and by working with so many of our local communities we will be able to create a strong network of cities and towns taking leadership to address climate change. We look forward to working together to better understand the local impacts of climate change and to plan and implement the best strategies to build community resilience."

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